the Child Welfare Division under the Tennessee Department of Public Welfare. Conforming to the Department's Institutional Standards in 1952, the Porter-Leath Home made some physical changes. Under recommendation by the department, the institution's nursery was closed. As a result, the Home only cared for children of school age. The nursery, originally constructed to care for infants, began to accommodate children six and seven years of age. Other important improvements made at the Porter-Leath Home included: the installation of additional lighting, new restrooms, and a new waste system. Also during this time period, the Exchange Club assisted the Home in providing a new library for the children. In 1953, the Home began the successful operation of "cottage type" child care. The buildings were divided into six departments, each with twelve children, a housemother and complete living accommodations. Each unit had a television, study tables and comfortable, attractive furniture. According to the Home's director Paul Sawrie, the transition to the small-group method of child-care stressed individual attention. In evaluating this new type of child-care, the Tennessee Department of Public Welfare declared that Porter-Leath Home had "desirable standards" – a degree higher than "minimum standards." As a result of this proclamation, the Home no longer was required to undergo routine examinations under the new standard rules. The Declining Need for Orphan Services By the early 1960s, the Trustees of Porter-Leath Home recognized the declining need of services for orphans. Institutional care for orphans became rare largely due to the availability of Social Security benefits and Public Assistance Programs. Also, the numbers of true orphans diminished significantly as medical advances were made. Consequently, the Trustees sought to expand the Home's child-caring services to meet the ever-increasing demands for more specialized institutional programs. As a result, by 1961 children under care at Porter-Leath came from the Courts, the Children's Bureau and the Department of Public Welfare. For the most part, these children were dependent and neglected and from broken homes. The "cottage-type" or small-group system instituted by the Home in the 1950s was well suited to provide individual care and attention to children in such distress. The First Group Home in Memphis During the 1960s, the Children's Bureau, which had provided foster care for dependent and neglected children prior to the establishment of the State Child Welfare Division, also moved toward more specialized care. In 1962, the Bureau, which was now supported by tax funds,